Trees & Shrubs of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Northern Bush Honeysuckle is small native perennial deciduous shrub that is not a true honeysuckle. It grows from 1 to 3 feet high and up to 4 feet wide, on densely branched slender stems that are greenish-red as twigs, then turning light brown. Older thicker stems have a bark that is gray to light-reddish brown that becomes shreddy. Twig buds are very small. Branches run close to the ground and slightly ascend.

Leaves are opposite, oblong with pointed tip and with fine teeth and have attractive fall color. The upper surface is green and smooth, the underside paler. Some plants may have leaves that take on a bronze color, particularly near the tips.

The inflorescence is a small panicle of stalked flowers, usually in threes, from either the leaf axils or at the end of a branch.

Flowers are trumpet shape with a 3/4 inch long by 1/2 inch wide yellow corolla, with five stamens, a single pistil and a style that has a knob-like tip; the bases of the stamens are hairy. Stamens and style are well exerted from the corolla throat. The tips of the five petals of the corolla spread outward and reflex. One of the petals has a distinct deeper yellow marking. Flowers can also be reddish in color on the same plant with the yellow flowers. The ovary is 2-loculed; the calyx tube is very narrow and cylindric with 5 lobes that are cleft almost to the base of the calyx. The flowers are self-sterile and must have an adjacent plant for fruit production.

Fruit: Fertile flowers produce a dry woody vase shaped capsule with the remnants of the long style and the filaments at the tip. The capsule splits open to release its seed. Seeds need 90 days of cold stratification for germination and they also need light. As they are very small they should be surface sown.

Habitat: The plant can make a good ground cover due to its suckering habit, which precludes if from being a landscape specimen, but unlike honeysuckles that are in the genus Lonicera, it is not considered invasive. It grows best in cooler regions that have mesic to dry upland sites but can adapt to sandy or gravelly soil. It is tolerant of various light levels. It grows from a rhizomatous root system which causes it to spread. Suckers may be transplanted to start new plants. The species is the larval host for the Fawn Sphinx Moth (Sphinx kalmiae).

Names: The genus name, Diervilla, is an honorary for N. Dierville, a French 17th Century doctor who is said to have introduced the species to Europe after finding the plant in Canada. The species name, lonicera, is also an honorary and refers to Adam Lonitzer (1528-1586), a German herbalist and the name is also used as the genus name for the true honeysuckles. Botanists have debated for years whether certain species of the subfamily Diervilleae should be in the Honeysuckle family (the Caprifoliaceae). Recently 16 species have been separated into the new family Diervillaceae. (See Taxon 47, Aug. 1998). The author name for the plant description - ‘Mill.’ refers to Philip Miller, Scottish botanist (1691-1771) who was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden and wrote "The Gardener's Dictionary” which ran through 8 editions. He was considered “the accurate Miller,” the most famous gardener and nurseryman of the day. The book spread the idea of gardening among the middle class who could now enjoy what was formerly the province of the wealthy. His prime source for North American plants was John Bartram.